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Local Officials Blast Tax Proposal, 'Broken' System

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By MARILYN BROWN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 15, 2008

Updated: 01/15/2008 12:15 am

TAMPA - With early voting started and the primary election just two weeks off, government officials are stepping up the campaign to defeat a constitutional amendment to cut property taxes.

Officers from the Florida Association of Counties, Florida League of Cities and Florida School Boards Association voiced opposition Monday at a meeting in Tampa.

"We all represent the same people," Frank Ortis, president of the Florida League of Cities and mayor of Pembroke Pines, said of the agencies working together against the change. "Amendment One makes a broken tax system even worse."

The amendment would double the homestead exemption, allow homeowners to transfer up to $500,000 of their Save Our Homes benefit if they move, create a $25,000 exemption on tangible property and cap increases on nonhomesteaded property's taxable value.

Teresa Jacobs, an Orange County commissioner and president of the Florida Association of Counties, said long-term effects of the amendment on local governments are unknown. However, public schools expect to lose about $1.6 billion during the next five years and local governments expect the tax base to drop by $9.3 billion during five years, which could have an impact on the funding of local services.

Gov. Charlie Crist, who will be in Tampa on Wednesday, and many business groups are pushing the amendment that county, city and school officials meeting at Tampa International Airport said erodes home rule and local control.

The League of Cities' campaign against Amendment One continues today when Ortis appears with mayors in Oldsmar, Winter Springs and Port Orange.

A public debate on Amendment One sponsored by the Tampa Downtown Partnership will be from 8 to 9 a.m. today at Maestro's Restaurant in the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center downtown.

Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at (813) 259-8069 or mbrown@tampatrib.com.

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